Crowdfunding offer in NZ completes in less than two weeks

First equity crowdfunding offer in NZ completes in less than
two weeks

The first capital raising offer through
equity crowdfunding in New Zealand history has successfully
completed after less than two weeks of opening to the
public. Renaissance Brewing reached its initial funding
target of $600,000 on Thursday, and yesterday reached its
stretch target of $700,000.

Josh Daniell, Snowball Effect
Head of Platform and Investor Growth, says the success of
the Renaissance offer clearly demonstrates the public
appetite for investment in small-to-medium enterprises
(SMEs).

“This is an important milestone, for both SMEs
and Kiwi investors, and a vote of confidence in a new way of
raising capital for growth-focussed companies, such as
Renaissance,” Daniell says. “The fact that the funding
target was achieved in such a short space of time is a
definitive endorsement of both the quality of the offer and
equity crowdfunding itself.”

Renaissance chief executive
Brian Thiel says the brewers are thrilled at getting over
the line in less than a quarter of the offer period:
“We’ll be celebrating tonight and I guarantee you it
won’t be with bottles of champagne – we’ve got better
stuff with which to toast our new
shareholders.”

Renaissance plans to invest the capital
in boosting its production capability and developing new
markets in Australasian and overseas territories, including
the US, Canada, UK, mainland Europe, Malaysia, Hong Kong and
Japan.

Daniell says the successful Renaissance offer shows
how opening up the capital markets to include a wider range
of investors can make a big difference: 287 investors with
an average investment just over $2,400; two investments over
$50,000; and the smallest of $500 (the minimum investment).
Investors flocked to the offer from across the country, with
over 40% of the investors located in the South
Island.

Daniell says that creating a central market for
such investments brings efficiency for both companies and
investors.

“We’ve been building the platform for over
two years and were told time and time again by companies
that they want an efficient method of raising capital so
they can focus on growing their businesses,” he says.
“This first offer was an excellent showcase of what can be
achieved.

“The uptake is that several hundred
entrepreneurial investors have now taken a stake in a
wealth-creating Kiwi asset and have the opportunity to share
in its success. We’re excited to see what Renaissance can
do with this groundswell of support behind
them.”

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